Tug sinking being studied

Company and state officials want to know why Island Brave sank Sunday

By JAKE ELLISON, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Officials still don’t know why the Island Brave, a 101-foot tugboat moored at the mouth of the Duwamish River, sank on Sunday, according to Larry Altose, a spokesman with the state Department of Ecology.

The vessel was raised Tuesday, and Altose’s department and company officials are investigating. The company could face penalties if the Island Brave sank because of negligence on the company’s part, Altose said.

Company officials did not return phone calls.

Fuel and motor oil spilled from the tug during the salvage operation, but it appeared most was recovered with absorbent pads and a water skimmer.

“There was a streamer of oil that got out of containment that couldn’t be recovered,” Altose said.

The company and Ecology will use the 15 bags of oil-, fuel- and water-soaked pads and the water stored in a vacuum truck to try to calculate how much oil and fuel was recovered.

It is estimated that about 100 gallons of diesel fuel were in the tug when it sank and landed on its side on the floor of the river, Altose said.

The tug also had engine capacity for 25 gallons of motor oil.

If the amount recovered doesn’t match how much Ecology officials leaked, in addition to the stream of oil that did escape, the company could face penalties for environmental damages.

Altose said clean-up was completed around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“We’ve had a good, well-conducted operation by the company,” he said.

“It’s gone very well. We saw very good success in containing the oil that was inevitably released by the raising operation.”